Seminary student tortured in white-van, terror-campaign takes new form in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 January 2011, 12:35 GMT]A 19-year-old student of Mannaar Seminary and an 18-year-old fellow student at Mannaar St. Xavier’s Boys College, were abducted by armed men who came in a white van Monday around 2:00 p.m. when the students were on their way back from the school. The students were blindfolded and severely beaten inside the vehicle. Except for a two-hour interrogation, they were kept inside the vehicle without any food or water for 30 hours. The squad tortured students were dropped off the white-van Tuesday 8:03 p.m. at Ka'l'li-kaddai-kaadu on Mannaar Medawachchiya Road. The guardian of the Mannaar Seminary, Rev. Fr. Xavier Croos and the Vicar General of Mannaar Rev. Fr. Victor Sosai, had to plead with the Sri Lanka police to get the tortured admitted to medical treatment before conducting their procedures. The entire Catholic community in Mannaar has been perturbed by the episode.

Johansen Arulananantham (19) and Gracian Romalson (18) who left the school were on their way on Mannaar Thalaimannaar Road when a squad that was waiting for them pushed them into a white-coloured van and blindfolded them both. They were severely beaten inside the vehicle and were taken off the van for "interrogation" for 1-2 hours. They were kept blindfolded and attacked.

The abductors had attacked the students with boots causing internal injuries and had tightened their throats several times.

Seminary student Johansen was the one who was mainly targeted. His father, a businessman, was abducted 4 years ago and is still missing.

Only a few weeks ago, on 13 December 2010, a team from Terrorist Interrogation Division entered the house of the family of Johansen and carried out a full checking. The TID men took photographs of Johansen and his elder brother, who is abroad. Only mother and a younger sister of Joahnsen live in their Thalaimannaar house.

The news of the abduction was kept confidentially till Tuesday by the Seminary administration and the school as they were trying to locate the missing.

Johansen's mother registered a complaint at Thalaimannaar Police while the guardian of Johansen, Fr. Xavier lodged a complaint with Mannaar Police Monday night.

The other student, Gracian, from Ka'rukkaay-ku'lam in Uyilangku'lam, was also a former Seminary student. Both of them were studying their final year GCE A/L.